


Tattered Collar

by SansyFresh



Series: Skeletails [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Aftermath of a Reset, Angst, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sans with a tail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 14:42:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10220501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SansyFresh/pseuds/SansyFresh
Summary: Fell may have given Sans his collar in order to remind himself of his love if the worst was to happen. But what happens if the worst comes, but the collar does not go with Sans on the other side of it?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cear_IK](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cear_IK/gifts).



> This is the angst idea I had, Cear lol I hope you enjoyed ^^

He groaned as he awoke, his arms stretching as he curled his spine. The moment his hands hit open air rather than more mattress, or even better, the bones of his lover, Sans’ eyes shot open. This wasn’t the bedroom he shared with Fell. The walls were the wrong color, the window on the wrong side of the room, and he was much too close to the floor. Sans could feel his chest constricting as he looked around, his tail twitching in agitation behind him. Lifting the honestly filthy looking sheets from his frame, Sans sat on the edge of a terrifyingly familiar mattress, in a terrifyingly familiar bedroom. 

 

He was breathing in short gasps now, his chest so tight it was almost painful as he realized where he was. When he was. The damn kid had reset. The kid reset and he was no longer with Fell. The promise his lover had made to him came to his soul in a rush of emotion, his hands flying to his neck as a small smile lit up his face. The smile fell as his hands closed around solid bone. 

 

There was no band of worn leather. No comforting magic that wasn’t his own. No metal tag that signified who he belonged to. Nothing at all that let anyone, including himself, know that he was Fell’s. 

 

The tears that began welling in his sockets were hot and sticky, his tail wrapped tightly between his legs as he stood. His hands knew how to react to a reset, even if his mind was elsewhere. Even if it felt as though his soul was cracking in his chest. A shirt went over his head, shorts up his legs. Socks and jacket slipped on, all while Sans silently sobbed. If things went the same as they did in the last timeline, Red would pop into this universe around lunch time. Sans wasn’t sure if he was hoping for the same things to happen or not.

 

This is what he got for getting attached. For falling in love. For letting himself be happy, if only for a singular moment. It had all reset. And there was nothing to signify that Fell would remember him. His own Papyrus didn’t remember the resets, except for the rare deja vu moments. And those were quickly dismissed as he went about his day.

 

Sans realized he had left his room and was already making his way down to the kitchen by the time his mind caught up with him. He quickly wiped any remains of tear-stains from his skull; Paps wouldn’t understand why he was upset in the first place. As he sat at his usual place at the table, Sans watched his little brother bustle about, good-naturedly nagging him about his habits. It was familiar, even after the time he had spent with Fell.

 

A pang of agony flew through his soul at the thought of his lover. If things went the same, he wasn’t sure he would survive the experience of meeting Fell all over again and the other not having a clue what they had shared.

 

~.~

 

He smiled on cue as Papyrus brought him to meet “the strange other Sans that just appeared in the kitchen!!!!”. It was painful enough just meeting Red for the second time, the other seemingly having no memory of anything that happened in the past reset. The script went on the same as it had the last time this all happened, not familiar enough for Sans to remember every little thing that would happen, but painful enough that, once Red had promised not to try and dust his brother, Sans excused himself.

 

Waterfall was peaceful, the blue lights of the echo flowers and the serene glow from the rivers and ponds themselves aiding to calm most of his bad days. But he and Fell had had one too many dates under the rocky, star filled caverns for Sans to feel anything but apprehension at even the thought of entering the place. His next choice would have been to go talk to the Lady behind the door, but she wouldn’t understand even if he tried to explain. Grillby’s was out because his brother would look there first once he didn’t come home on time.

 

Which left the one place he could think of that wouldn’t remind him of what he no longer had. Well...it would remind him of loss, of pain and misery. But no more so than it usually did. Which was why Sans found himself sitting in the middle of the Judgement Hall, legs spread out in front of him with his hands folded in his lap.

 

His tail swayed gently behind him, the white bone making small clicks on the smooth marble floor as it went from side to side in a monotonous pattern. He relished in this quiet, this absolute silence other than the sounds his own body made. It was him, and him alone. No humans to try and kill him. No memories to plague his every thought, no thought to cloud his ashy soul. Just silence, just him and the golden light that filtered through the massive windows.

 

It didn’t take more than a few hours for the silence to be ruined, light footsteps making their way up the hall to him. It wasn’t the human, that much was for certain. They weren’t even halfway through the Ruins by this point, and that was if they hadn’t decided to kill everyone again. He didn’t care to look up to see who it was, he could feel the magic wafting off the other.

 

Red didn’t stop until he was right in front of him, arms crossed as he took in Sans’ slumped form and hollow sockets. “I figured this is where you’d go, you and the Boss had too many dates all around the damn Underground for you to have too many places to hide.”

 

Sans couldn’t even find it in him to be surprised. Red remembered. That should have been a relief, welcomed even, but all Sans could feel was apathy. He nodded, not reacting as the other sat in front of him, arms still crossed. 

 

“So why are you moping in here?” Red asks, as though he doesn’t know why Sans is there. Sans spared a withering look, the reaction only being a chuckle from the other. “I went and had a little chat with your kid. They won’t be resetting any more, I made sure of it.” Red continued, though all Sans could do was huff. No amount of promises would convince him the kid was trustworthy, it didn’t matter what Red had done to get the promise. The next words out of Red’s mouth, however, made Sans sit up in both fear and apprehension. “I brought my bro over. Fixed the machine up quicker since we’ve done this shit before. I’ll let you two talk.”

 

Red took a shortcut, disappearing with a wink, and all Sans could do was stare, mouth gaped as Fell strode towards him, purpose in his steps. The taller stopped a few feet from him, hands on his hips in a pose that screamed confidence as he looked around, sockets narrowed as they settled on Sans. The smaller flinched at the gaze, his once-lover’s eyelights flashing as they looked him over, as if judging him.

 

He went utterly still as Fell took the last few strides to stand right before him, the other towering over him. Sans shut his eyes as he cowered, not at all certain what he intended to do to him. It was when he felt a cool leather band slip around his neck, smooth fur tickling his vertebrae as Fell’s voice reverberated through his skull that he opened them once more. 

 

“I told you, Sans. You will  _ always  _ belong to me. And I will  _ always  _ be there for you. Even if the demon of a child resets, I will not allow myself to forget the monster I love.”

 

Sans was reminded of that night, long ago, when Fell had said these things to him and he had broken down in the other’s arms. He sat on the cool marble, tears streaming down his face once more as he looked up at Fell, the softness in the other’s eyelights and the smile on his lover’s face filling his soul with adoration. He lifted his arms to the other as he choked out a sob, Fell instantly scooping him up.

  
He didn’t know how this was possible, how Fell remembered when no one else in his universe did. And, in that exact moment, as Fell sent comforting, love filled magic to his broken soul, he didn’t care.


End file.
